I have a huge pet peeve!
There are 2 types of Registered Nurses:
1. Diploma (2 year program)
2. Degree (4 year program)
Now no matter which one you have, you are NOT a Registered Nurse until you have written the Registered Nursing Exam! If you don't write the licensing exam you are NOT a Registered Nurse, no matter where you graduated from: hospital, college or university. All nursing grads write the exact same nursing exam on the exact same day. If you pass and then pay the yearly license registration fee, you can call yourself an RN. If you pass and don't pay the license fee? You're simply a graduate from a nursing program, be it a diploma program or a degree one.
The only difference between a Degree over Diploma is 2 years, 50 cents per hour more, and the ability to put the initials "BN" before the "RN" after your name.
So what is my pet peeve? Someone asking "Are you an RN or BN?"
I know what they are asking: They want to know is if I have a 2 year diploma or a 4 year degree in nursing.
There is so much emphasis in the job market for some jobs that many are ignorant to the fact that a nursing degree (BN) means absolutely nothing until the person actually passes their licensing exam, and then no matter where you graduated from, YOU ARE AN RN!!!
I got a call today from a company that I had applied at and who had called me early last week. I've left daily messages and finally just today got a phone call back! They aren't even setting up interviews right now. They are going through the applicants asking "Do you have an RN or BN", and right then and there I knew they were looking for someone with a 4 year degree, despite their ad not having indicated such. Why do I think that? Because if it wasn't relevant, they wouldn't have asked.
I answered her questions, and nicely informed her that I think what she means to ask is if I'm a diploma RN vs a degree RN, and that none of us are RN's until we write and pass the same licensing exam.
Did I blow the opportunity for an interview? No. As soon as she heard I wasn't a degree RN, I lost my chance. However, she left our discussion more educated than before she talked to me.
I worked hard to get my education and I'm a good nurse. And I'll be darned if I'm going to let uninformed people belittle that education!
There are 2 types of Registered Nurses:
1. Diploma (2 year program)
2. Degree (4 year program)
Now no matter which one you have, you are NOT a Registered Nurse until you have written the Registered Nursing Exam! If you don't write the licensing exam you are NOT a Registered Nurse, no matter where you graduated from: hospital, college or university. All nursing grads write the exact same nursing exam on the exact same day. If you pass and then pay the yearly license registration fee, you can call yourself an RN. If you pass and don't pay the license fee? You're simply a graduate from a nursing program, be it a diploma program or a degree one.
The only difference between a Degree over Diploma is 2 years, 50 cents per hour more, and the ability to put the initials "BN" before the "RN" after your name.
I know what they are asking: They want to know is if I have a 2 year diploma or a 4 year degree in nursing.
There is so much emphasis in the job market for some jobs that many are ignorant to the fact that a nursing degree (BN) means absolutely nothing until the person actually passes their licensing exam, and then no matter where you graduated from, YOU ARE AN RN!!!
I got a call today from a company that I had applied at and who had called me early last week. I've left daily messages and finally just today got a phone call back! They aren't even setting up interviews right now. They are going through the applicants asking "Do you have an RN or BN", and right then and there I knew they were looking for someone with a 4 year degree, despite their ad not having indicated such. Why do I think that? Because if it wasn't relevant, they wouldn't have asked.
I answered her questions, and nicely informed her that I think what she means to ask is if I'm a diploma RN vs a degree RN, and that none of us are RN's until we write and pass the same licensing exam.
Did I blow the opportunity for an interview? No. As soon as she heard I wasn't a degree RN, I lost my chance. However, she left our discussion more educated than before she talked to me.
I worked hard to get my education and I'm a good nurse. And I'll be darned if I'm going to let uninformed people belittle that education!